The present invention relates to the emplacement on the ground of a temporary surface covering stored rolled either on itself in the manner of a carpet or on a winding spool.
The invention is applicable in the first instance to the type of temporary covering for the movement of vehicles on sandy, muddy or marshy ground, described in French patent 2 718 158 but also to any other type of temporary covering for the same purpose but of different construction such as a metal mesh structure of the type described in British patent 2 212 177, to the extent that such a covering can be stored by being rolled up on itself or on any support spool.
The object of the present invention is to provide a simple, effective and less costly means permitting the deployment on the ground by unrolling, of a covering formed by a rectangular strip of several meters width and several tens of meters length, stored in the rolled condition.
Such coverings generally require heavy, costly means that are difficult to maneuver, for their deployment, for example automotor systems or tractors with an orientable tower carrying the covering in the rolled or wound condition, such a system being shown for example in French patent 2 021 199 or else in French patent 2 492 427.
Instead of and in place of these means, the invention provides a device characterized by the combination, on the one hand, of the temporary surface covering and, on the other hand, of at least one flexible tube secured against the internal surface of said covering over substantially all its length and rolled conjointly with the covering, said flexible tube being adapted to be connected, at the free end of the rolled up assembly, to a source of fluid under pressure for its inflation.
At the site of deployment of such a rolled-up assembly, it suffices to lay said assembly on the ground, to connect said free end of the flexible tube to a source of fluid under pressure, for example air, and to inflate the tube, which expands progressively axially and pushes before it the rolled-up assembly which unrolls itself from one end to the other.